The U.S. smartphone market place is a well - know entity in 2024 . orchard apple tree prevail the flagship space with the iPhone , Samsung ’s Galaxy S French telephone are a dependable force-out every yr , and Google ’s Pixel phones continue meliorate . But what aboutbudget phones ? There are some nice choices from Google , Motorola , and OnePlus , but your options are circumscribed .
It ’s a trusty , if somewhat unexciting , swath of smartphones , specially when you get a coup d’oeil at what ’s bump in other character of the human race . On a late trip-up to India with MediaTek to see the company ’s comportment in the Indian technical school market place at first hand , I was give the Lava Agni 3 — a new smartphone release from the India - based companyLava .
The Lava Agni 3 is one of the young smartphone releases in India . It has astonishingly whole specs , a truly strange conception , and yield you all of that at an unbelievably honest Mary Leontyne Price . For all those reasons and more , it ’s unlike any other sound I ’ve used this year , and I ’d like to tell you why .
Yes, that’s a screen on the back
First and firstly , yes — that is a projection screen on the back of the Agni 3 next to the tv camera . It ’s not the first smartphone with a bum - mounted exhibit , but it is the first one I ’ve ever used , and it ’s been quite an experience .
It ’s a 1.74 - inch AMOLED screen that works very likewise to a smartwatch . You purloin up to look at your apprisal , swipe down to adjust the screen door brightness , and nobble right wing / allow to view the handful of apps you may use on the display . These include :
Some of these are pretty handy . Having a camera finder to take selfies with the 50 - megapixel master camera is peachy . It ’s also commodious to set a timer from the rear display . However , other aspect are a bit shaky . If I can create timers and master a stopwatch from the rear covert , why ca n’t I plant an alarm ? Why can I only view existent ones ? I ’m not trusted , but that ’s what Lava has decided .
You get additional control from the independent preferences app . you could enable or stop the “ Cute Pets ” choice ( which features an adorable hot dog take to the woods around the blind ) , and you could even enable an always - on exhibit for the screen — ascertain you always see the time , appointment , and remaining battery sprightliness .
The rear display is n’t a game - changing characteristic , and you ’d be fair to say it ’s a chip gimmicky . But I also kind of adore it . It ’s quirky , silly , and a feature I ’d wager most folks have n’t used before . It ’s notthereason to buy the Lava Agni 3 , but it for certain adds to its good luck charm .
Solid specs, impressive hardware
add together to the Lava Agni 3 ’s telling qualities is its spec rag . specification alone do n’t make or fail a telephone , but they are an of the essence part of it , and that ’s something Lava understandably understand .
The front of the phone is cover by a 6.78 - inch curve AMOLED venire with a 1200 x 2652 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate . It has good vividness , is incredibly responsive , and gets decently bright , with a maximal brightness of 1200 nits .
Speaking of reactivity , the MediaTek Dimensity 7300X chipset powering the earpiece is very capable . It ’s the same chip find inside theCMF Phone 1 , and interchangeable to our experience with that earphone , it ’s been a fast and capable chipset for the Lava Agni 3 . Rounding out the specification sheet are 8 GB of RAM , 128 GB or 256 GB of storage , and a 5,000mAh battery with 66 - James Watt wire charging ( with an included charger in the box seat ) .
The ironware these spec are packed into feel far better than I expected . At 212 grams , the Agni 3 feel much more stalwart and obtuse than you typically see with phones this inexpensive . Paired with the matte glass back , unruffled showing curves , and tactile clit , it all creates a hardware package I ’d be glad with for a $ 400 or $ 500 smartphone .
And then there ’s the cherry tree on top : The Action key . As the name suggests , it ’s an unembarrassed knockoff of the iPhone ’s activeness clit . However , Lava ’s attack is better . Unlike the iPhone , which only let you programme the Action clit to a single action / task , you getthreecustomizable commands for the Action key on the Lava Agni 3 — including a single click , double click , and retentive press .
you may allot each action to a finical job ( like demand a screenshot or move around on the flashlight ) or open any app installed on the Lava 3 . It ’s so customizable and so much merriment and is on the button what the Action button on the iPhone should have been . Well done , Lava .
The price makes it special
The Lava Agni 3 has a lot proceed for it . It has the strange , but fun secondary sieve , very competent specification , expectant computer hardware , and it even outdoes Apple with its take on the Action push button . Surely , that all comes with a properly sized price tag — right ?
Amazingly , not at all . The Lava Agni 3 retails for 25,999 rupees , which is about $ 308 . It ’s also discounted on Amazon in good order now to just 22,499 rupees , or about $ 266 . What kind of smartphone can you get in the U.S. for that variety of money ? Nothing as telling as the Agni 3 , that ’s for sure .
The tight competitor in terms of direct pricing is the $ 300Moto G Power 5 gram ( 2024 ) . It has a nice conception and foresightful battery liveliness , but it also has a significantly worse display and a much less equal to chipset . It ’s also prognosticate just one major Android update , compare to three yr of updates for the Agni 3 .
TheSamsung Galaxy A35is a much better option , offering a honorable main camera , four age of updates , and a forward-looking design . However , it also has very irksome charging speeds , a weaker chipset , and a much higher start price of $ 400 . There are more comparable options out there , such as the CMF Phone 1 , but they are n’t usable in the U.S.
A glimpse at what we’re missing out on
This is n’t a review of the Lava Agni 3 . I ’ve not had clip to evaluate the phone ’s shelling sprightliness , cameras , or long - term performance after hebdomad of utilization . But that ’s also not why I wanted to write this . or else , I require to highlight what we ’re miss out on .
The U.S. and Native American smartphone market could n’t be more different . In the U.S. , it ’s commonplace to buy phone through flattop mess / contract . A $ 1,000 phone quickly turns into one that costs $ 40 / calendar month — if not free when you add a melodic phrase or trade in your old phone . This frame-up has conditioned us to care less and less about retail prices . aggregate with overwhelming dominance from brands like Apple and Samsung , it ’s created a grocery that ’s less private-enterprise and advanced than it once was .
This is not true in India . The Indian market place isincrediblyprice - conscious . Not only do more people buy their phones instantaneously , but there ’s also extremely fierce rivalry , with over 200 alone smartphone models resign in the country every class . With so many other phones to compete with and shoppers so much more sensitive to toll , companies like Lava are forced to free competitive value - concentre phone like the Agni 3 .
The Lava Agni 3 is n’t a earphone you or I can grease one’s palms , and its macrocosm wo n’t change or bear upon our budget smartphone option in the U.S. anytime soon . Still , it ’s a great reminder of what else is out there . Living in a rural area dominated by expensive and reiterative flagships like theiPhone 16 ProandGalaxy S24 Ultra(as good as they may be ) , it ’s refreshing to see how matter are done differently in another part of the world . The Lava Agni 3 certainly opened up my eye to it , and I hope it does the same for you .
